Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Thursday 29 July 1999

Scottish Executive

Education

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of students who have graduated with a degree in orthoptics from either a Scottish university or college in each of the past five academic years.

Henry McLeish: Information is not available specifically for graduates in Orthoptics.

  However, the numbers of students who graduated from Scottish universities or colleges with a first degree in Ophthalmics, which includes Orthoptics and Optometry, are as follows:

  1994-95 58

  1995-96 52

  1996-97 63

  Information prior to 1994-95 academic session is not readily available.

Health

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to increase the charges on individuals under the powers contained in the Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999 and, if so, whether it will provide details of those changes.

Susan Deacon: A new charging regime was introduced on 5 April 1999 through Regulations made under the terms of the Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999. Under the new arrangements, individuals are no longer charged an emergency treatment fee for hospital attendances following a road traffic accident in which they were involved. NHS charges only become payable when an insurance company pays compensation under a personal injury claim in respect of a road traffic accident.

  In practice, NHS charges are met by insurance companies and not passed on to the individual concerned. Neither the individual’s entitlement to personal injury compensation or the amount awarded is affected by the charge recovery.

  The new charging arrangements apply to all cases where compensation is or has been paid in respect of accidents from 2 July 1997. The charges are:

  Treatment without inpatient admission: flat rate charge of £354

  Treatment with admission: daily rate of £435 subject to a ceiling of £10,000

  The charges have been set to reflect the actual costs to the NHS as a whole for treating road traffic accident victims.

Health

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list, by Health Board area, the Scottish Hospitals with in-patient paediatric services, and indicate how many of these services are currently subject to review.

Susan Deacon: Information on hospitals which provided acute inpatient paediatric services in each Health Board area during the year to 31 March 1999 is provided in the Table.

  Health Service strategies are kept under review as part of the Health Improvement Programme process introduced in 1998. Every Health Board must set out its intentions annually for service developments in its area for the following five years. Where a planned development represents a significant change of use of a hospital or contains proposals for hospital closure, there must be full public consultation. Health Boards currently carrying out a review of acute paediatric services are shown in the Table.

  NHS in Scotland: NHS Hospitals Providing Acute Inpatient Paediatric Services1 During The Year Ending 31 March 1999p

  

HEALTH
BOARD2/HOSPITAL 
REVIEW
OF ACUTE INPATIENT PAEDIATRIC SERVICE 


Argyll
and Clyde 
Yes



Inverclyde
Royal Hospital 
 


Royal
Alexandra Hospital 
 


Vale
of Leven District General Hospital 
 


 
 


Ayrshire
and Arran 
Yes



Crosshouse
Hospital 
 


The
Ayr Hospital 
 


 
 


Borders

No



Borders
General Hospital 
 


 
 


Dumfries
and Galloway 
No



Dumfries
and Galloway Royal Infirmary 
 


 
 


Fife

Yes



Queen
Margaret Hospital 
 


Victoria
Hospital, Kirkcaldy 
 


 
 


Forth
Valley 
Yes



Falkirk
and District Royal Infirmary 
 


Stirling
Royal Infirmary 
 


 
 


Grampian

Yes



Dr
Gray’s Hospital 
 


Royal
Aberdeen Children’s Hospital 
 


 
 


Greater
Glasgow 
Yes



Canniesburn
Hospital 
 


Glasgow
Dental Hospital and School 
 


Royal
Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow 
 


Southern
General Hospital 
 


Victoria
Infirmary 
 


Western
Infirmary 
 


 
 


Highland

No



Raigmore
Hospital 
 


 
 


Lanarkshire

No



Law
Hospital 
 


Monklands
District General Hospital 
 


Stonehouse
Hospital 
 


 
 


Lothian

Yes



City
Hospital 
 


Royal
Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh 
 


St
John’s Hospital at Howden 
 


 
 


Tayside

Yes



Dundee
Royal Infirmary (closed 30/11/98) 
 


Ninewells
Hospital 
 


Perth
Royal Infirmary 
 


Strathcathro
Hospital 
 


 
 


HEALTH
BOARD2/HOSPITAL

REVIEW
OF ACUTE INPATIENT PAEDIATRIC SERVICE 


Western
Isles 
No



Western
Isles Hospital 
 



  p Provisional

  1 Includes dedicated children’s hospitals; hospitals with paediatric units; and other hospitals which during 1998/99 admitted children for inpatient treatment. Hospitals which admitted a relatively small number of children (less than 50) or emergency cases only during the year are excluded.

  2 Acute inpatient paediatric services for Orkney and Shetland are provide by Grampian University Hospitals NHS Trust.

  Source: ISD Scotland

Health

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give a commitment to ensure that an orthoptic degree course is continued at one of the universities or colleges in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The future of orthoptic education in Scotland has been under consideration for some time. There are many factors involved. I hope to examine all the issues in the near future in order to determine the way forward that best suits the interests of the NHS in Scotland.

Health

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from Scottish universities indicating a willingness to run a degree course in orthoptics.

Susan Deacon: We have received informal enquiries from a number of Scottish Universities expressing a possible interest in running a degree course in orthoptics. No formal representations have been received.

Health

Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of the proportion of finance for the maintenance of Private Finance Initiative contracts for new capital projects within the National Health Service in Scotland which is being met from the revenue budgets of NHS Trusts, by project and by Trust.

Susan Deacon: Until the contract for a PFI funded project has been signed, and the development is available for use, no revenue costs fall on the NHS Trust concerned. Once the project is being used by a NHS Trust, it pays a charge for that use from revenue funds. Details of the revenue costs of individual PFI projects are not held centrally.

Health

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress is being made with the establishment of a comprehensive clinical audit system within each Health Board in Central Scotland and what priority has been given to the establishment of such a system in the plans for creating a more client-focussed service.

Susan Deacon: The 3 Health Boards and 6 Trusts serving Central Scotland (Ayrshire and Arran, Forth Valley and Lanarkshire) are refining their established clinical audit systems to reflect the new Trust configurations and their strategies for clinical effectiveness and patient/client focussed care. This is a high priority for all General Managers and Chief Executives in the NHS in Scotland and is signalled clearly in Health Improvement Programmes (HIPs), copies of which can be obtained from health Board Headquarters.

Housing

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W–335 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 14 July 1999, what specific proposals it will bring forward to improve housing provision for Scotland’s black and ethnic minority communities.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive will seek to ensure that all people in Scotland, irrespective of ethnic origin, benefit from its housing policies and the housing programmes of Scottish Homes and local authorities. The new Race Equality Advisory Forum will advise on a strategy dealing with broader racial equality issues, including housing. It will also encourage the creation of long term partnerships across communities to address such issues effectively.

Justice

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of conditional offers issued by the Procurator Fiscal for Glasgow and Strathkelvin in respect of non-motoring offences during 1998 were paid in full.

Lord Hardie: During the calendar year 1998, the Procurator Fiscal at Glasgow and Strathkelvin received a total of 68,103 reports of crime. The total includes cases reported by agencies other than Strathclyde Police, for example British Transport Police and the Health & Safety Executive. It is not possible to extract a separate total of cases submitted by Strathclyde Police.

  During 1998 the Procurator Fiscal issued 12,695 conditional offers of fiscal fines; warnings were issued in 8,975 cases; 2,409 cases were disposed of by means of conditional offers of fixed penalty, in respect of road traffic matters; 83 cases were concluded by way of diversion; and 1,196 cases were either transferred to the Scottish Children’s Reporter Agency, transferred to another Procurator Fiscal’s Office or associated with another case against the same accused.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to recognise Glasgow’s metropolitan status in serving an area much wider than its designated boundaries.

Mr Jack McConnell: We already recognise the additional pressures which Glasgow and other major urban centres face. The local government finance settlement takes account of commuters and other non-residents in the assessments for a number of council services.

  These distribution arrangements are kept under review, with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, through the joint local government finance Distribution Committee.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to provide an estimate of the percentage of businesses in Scotland which have participated in the New Deal for young people.

Henry McLeish: I refer the member to my answer to question S1W-303 also answered today.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the division of responsibilities between the Scottish Administration and Her Majesty’s Government for expenditure and policies relating to the New Deal for Young People.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which therefore takes the lead on the funding and delivery of the New Deal throughout Great Britain, although in close consultation with its partners, including the Scottish Executive. Many partner organisations at local level also provide New Deal services under contract or provide funds and other resources, including training funds to enhance the quality of New Deal in their areas. The public and voluntary sector organisations which contribute to the New Deal in this way fall within the remit of the Scottish administration.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the expenditure and numbers of young people involved in Scotland to date in respect of the New Deal for Young People.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-299 also answered today.

  By the end of April 30,300 had joined the programme. Expenditure incurred to that date was £19.3 million, excluding the cost of allowances where separate information on Scotland is not available. This figure understates the total costs accrued due to time lags in billing and reimbursement.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a list of all current and planned New Deal initiatives in Scotland other than those covered by the New Deal for Young People.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-299 also answered today.

  The current and planned New Deal initiatives in Scotland, other than the New Deal for Young People, are:

  New Deal for Lone Parents

  New Deal for Disabled People

  New Deal for Partners of Unemployed People

  New Deal for long-term unemployed people aged 25 plus

  New Deal 25 plus pilots

  New Deal 50 plus

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will state how many young people who have obtained employment through the New Deal Gateway have been taken on by employers who are not receiving the New Deal subsidy, and what percentage does this represent of all those who have been taken on under the employment option.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-299 also answered today.

  The total number to the end of April was 5,570 and this represented 65% of those who had moved into sustained employment by that date.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish details of the number of companies in Scotland which have taken on young people under the employment option of the New Deal for Young People to date and what percentage of trading businesses in Scotland this figure represents.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-299 also answered today.

  The number of young people who had secured sustained jobs through the programme to the end of April was 8,600 and the number of companies which had signed New Deal employer agreements was 8,800. This represents 6 per cent of businesses registered for VAT and/or PAYE in Scotland. Information about the number of companies which have taken on New Deal recruits is not available.

New Deal

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will state how many young people have taken up the employment option under the New Deal for Young People in Scotland to date, how many of these have completed the six month period of employment, how many have left before completion of the six month period, and how many obtained permanent employment with their host company on completion of the six months.

Henry McLeish: Employment policy is reserved to the UK Government which takes the lead on funding and delivery of the New Deal. In Scotland it does this in partnership with the Scottish Executive and contributing Scottish organisations as indicated in the answer to question S1W-299 also answered today.

  By the end of April 2,530 had joined the employer option: of the 370 who had left the option 250 (68%) had moved into unsubsidised jobs either as a result of being retained by their employers or by moving to a job with another employer.

  Details of the periods spent on options and the numbers who are retained by the employer who took them on under the employer option are not available.

Social Services

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W–375 by Iain Gray on 2 July 1999, whether it plans to provide any additional resources in order to implement the key recommendations of the review into services for people with a learning disability.

Iain Gray: Our forward plans for health and social work generally already allow for increased expenditure of £680 million over the next two years. The review itself will consider whether the significant resources already spent are being used effectively and whether new resources may be needed. The review will report to Ministers around the end of the year.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the design team for the Holyrood Project has been appointed under standard RIBA/RIAS conditions of engagement and, if so, at 10 June 1999 what fee payment stage had been reached in respect of the design of the members’ building and the assembly building.

Sir David Steel: Each member of the Design Team has been appointed under the appropriate ‘terms of appointment’ issued by the professional body relevant to their individual discipline. The standard terms have been amended to take into account the particular nature of the project and the specific requirements of the Client. As at 10 June the Design Team were progressing into Stage E "Detail Design" for the building as a whole.

Holyrood

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer to specify the total value of the contracts awarded to date in respect of the Holyrood Project and what percentage of the total value relates to provisional sums.

Sir David Steel: To date ‘works package’ contracts totalling just under £2.5 million have been awarded in respect of the Holyrood Project. No provisional sums have been included in those contracts.

Parliamentary Staffing

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer to specify the number of Parliamentary clerks to be accommodated in the new Parliament building under (a) the £50 million cost plan and (b) the revised £62 million cost plan.

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer to specify the number of Parliamentary administrative staff to be accommodated in the new Parliament building under (a) the £50 million cost plan and (b) the revised £62 million cost plan.

Sir David Steel: The information requested is given in the table.

  

Staff/Worker
Category(1) 
Original Brief
(£50m)(2)


Revised Brief
(£62m)(2)




Parliamentary
Clerks (3) 
45 

64 



Administrative
Staff 
64 

145 





  (1)Clerks and other administrative staff as estimated at March 1999.

  (2)Excludes VAT, fees, contingencies, etc.

  (3)Including the clerks support staff